Everyone knows the power of social media and how quickly it can generate traffic and conversions. A really good social media marketing campaign can take off quickly and spread like wildfire. Social media exposure is free, apart from the initial time and effort required to get a campaign started, which makes this marketing tactic potentially profitable.

Over the last 10 years, there has been an influx of new social networks that now play an important role in the lives of many people. With so many apps, games, websites, and platforms for communication, this is the age of social media. Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, and Instagram are all places where you can successfully market your company.

Unfortunately, the internet is a fickle creature which means social media marketing has to be planned with precision. Each social media platform has it’s own unique quirks and you’ll need to learn about them and adapt to the restrictions they create.

Steps to Follow for Effective (and Succesful) Social Media Marketing Plan

Define Your Purpose :

Decide what you are trying to do with this social media campaign and then outline what you would like to accomplish. Defining your campaign will help you decide which social media outlet is most appropriate.

This may sound like an obvious tip, but many people choose to advertise on the wrong social media source and their campaigns fail.

Put Together a Team :

Once you’ve outlined your campaign, you need to start putting together a team dedicated to your social media marketing campaign.

You’ll want different people taking care of each facet of the operation, including managing the technical aspects of the campaign (AdWords), developing strategy and content, and interacting with the community.

There are specialized companies, that can help you manage your campaign. These experts already have knowledgeable and experienced staff ready to conduct a social media marketing campaign for you.

Know Your Audience :

Get to know the communities you’re going to be targeting with your campaign. There are many ways to familiarize yourself with your targeted communities.

A few of the most important things you should be doing include:

  • Observing common interests.
  • Seeing how people interact on each social media platform.
  • Tracing group and network communication.
  • Spotting and communicating with influential community members.
  • Getting an idea of what kind of content resonates with the greatest number of people.

Start by figuring out what your target demographic is and where they congregate. Explore different social media pages, including those of your competitors, and get some ideas.

There are also many experts, like Neil Patel, who are willing to share their knowledge on social media campaigns, audiences, and other related topics.

Determine Your Infrastructure :

Each social media network has its own character, and there are certain types of content, conduct, and tactics that will work for each network. For example, videos for YouTube, images on channels like Pinterest and Tumblr, and pithy blurbs on Twitter and Facebook.

Larger, more general networks, like Google+ and LinkedIn, provide more flexibility, but you’ll still need to explore each platform to assess what your audience is looking for.

There are plenty of great resources, like Ignite Social Media and Mashable, to help you better understand and navigate the social media sphere.

Set Goals and Analyze Metrics :

Goals and metrics are a great way to determine whether your social media campaign is working or whether it needs to be modified. You don’t want to invest too much of your time and energy in a failed strategy. Your goals can change as your social media campaign progresses, but initially it’s a good idea to set modest goals that specify:

  • How fast you want your network growing?
  • How you want your campaign affecting your conversion rate?
  • What your sales goals are?
  • How many new users you want to target?

With these goals in place, you can use metrics like cost per conversion, click-through rate, and quality score to track the impact of your operation.

Software, like Adwords or Crazy Egg  provide daily information to help you determine whether your campaign is effective.

Interact :

The follow up for an effective social media campaign is interacting with potential customers. Once you post online, people will ask questions, comment on products, and write reviews. You need to respond to anything your audience writes about your company, positive or negative.

It’s important to address problems, express thanks, and, eventually, become a known expert on the services and products you offer.

Grow :

A growth strategy should be a vital part of your social media marketing plan. After an initial plan, you should modify your strategy to include information from your marketing efforts.

Once your campaign has launched successfully and starts to engage people, you’ll want to keep track of your efforts and re-strategize to allow for growing networks, an influx of visitors to your site, and company sustainability.

Convert :

Need to have a plan for convincing potential customers to purchase your product or service. Landing pages, website ease of use, and testimonials are all important tools to help you convert visitors.

Interact

Another great way to encourage sales, is to get your users on an email list. Email blasts provides visitors with a non-invasive way to browse your products or services and establishes continuity and familiarity with your company.

Get Started

There is a lot of advice in this post that should help you put together a good plan for your social media marketing campaign. Social media marketing is meant to be fun and exciting, but it can take a lot of effort to create an effective strategy. Fortunately, when you start growing your followers and they start sharing your content and products organically, the work will get a little easier.

Don’t get discouraged by a failed campaign and don’t be afraid to experiment with unlikely ideas. Social media advertising is a very competitive market. It may take you several tries before you create a successful campaign.